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# Venice Junk food for thought
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/venice-junk-food-for-thought-editor/
- Published: 2007-04-21T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:36:56.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Venice, #archive-import

*By James Zeruk jr.*

Like most of America, my prayers and tears went out for the victims and families of the Virginia Tech massacre, yet, as the story unfolded, I couldn’t help but reflect on the insanity of the politically correct pleasure police and lawmakers who spend so much time banning so-called “junk food” like candy bars and soda pop from America’s campuses. “It’s for the safety of the children,” “We must protect the health of our young people,” “Obesity and tooth decay are killing teens!” And on and on they rail.

So out go the Twinkies and potato chips. Away with the Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper. And God help the college student who is caught smoking a Marlboro between bites of a Big Mac, munching Twizzlers from a plastic bag, and washing it all down with Mountain Dew from a Styrofoam cup!

“Honest, Mr. Campus Cholesterol Cop, I don’t know how that chili-fries residue got on the corner of my mouth...”

Meanwhile, evil such as that which murdered those terrific kids at V-Tech was allowed to roam freely. We now find that many of the murderer’s professors knew of his bizarre behavior and death fantasies. Several students refused to go to classes where he attended. Even the V- Tech police had reports and complaints of the killer stalking and annoying women on campus — and there were many more warnings this massacre would occur. Yet they were all ignored or swept under the rug.

My point is that maybe our own City Hall should put off worrying about how “green” our city is and worry more about how “red” our streets and campuses may become because of gangs. And maybe the PhDs who run SMC and our city’s middle and high schools should stop worrying about what’s going in students’ mouths and focus on what’s going on in their heads.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 21, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)